taxes

[Bak]

saw this:

 

http://walmartwatch.com/img/blog/wsj_taxrelief.gif

 

I heard somewhere that there's a building in Delaware that's the world headquarters of something like 200 of the fortune 500 companies. All at the same address.

[»Lynx]

Mhmm, I recall reading this in WSJ a while (years) ago. It'd be a shame if the system hasn't been fixed yet, but then I suppose Wal-Mart has the lobbying power to prevent any revisions like that from cropping up.

[Dr Brain]

Just a symptom of a broken tax system. It's hard to blame the company, since companies can't afford to throw money away.

[Simulacrum]

Perhaps we could blame them for, in many cases, manipulating the legislators themselves to provide these loopholes.

[»Lynx]

I'd have to agree with Dr Brain. The system is the problem, not those using it. If they can manipulate the legislators to provide the loopholes, then the legislators _and_ the tax system is a problem... etcetera etcetera...

[Simulacrum]

OK — so corporations are never culpable for anything?

[NBVegita]

I'll play a bit of Devil's advocate here but:

 

Sim:

 

Have you never sped in your entire life? Have you never rolled a stop sign? Have you never cheated on a test? Have you never ?

 

I believe that yes, the corporations hold a part of the responsibility, but no more or less responsibilities than those who allow them to get away with it.

[Simulacrum]

In any case, this should only be more reason to fix tax loopholes. I don't care so much if corporations are good or bad people, but being Good People is not a fair excuse to break the law. Edited December 23, 2009 by Simulacrum

[NBVegita]

Oh I agree that we should fix the loopholes, 100%.

 

But I'm saying you can't demonize the corporations completely because if they've figured it out, our government sure has figured it out.

[Bak]

It depends on whether they figured it out on their own, or if they put the loopholes there or influenced congress to keep them there with lobbyists.

[Dr Brain]

"Imagine the gall of these people, trying to make money? That's simply un-American."

 

Shouldn't you direct your ire toward the legislators? They're the ones that added the loopholes (intentionally or not), and they're the ones that could correct it (by reworking the system to make sense, or closing it and causing economic chaos).